


draconic dimension

by robinatheart (orphan_account)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Dimension Travel, Dragons, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8331445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/robinatheart
Summary: Barry ends up on a very different Earth, where his alternate self leads a very different life.





	

The first thing to cross Barry's mind as he stumbles onto yellowing grassy slopes instead of Central City's concrete highways is  _Oh no_. The next thing, he says out loud.

"What the hell?"

He doesn't have much time to say anything else before someone snaps "Look out, kid!" and he automatically ducks as a very large, very terrifying winged creature glides right over his head and lands on the ground in front of him.

"Holyshitthat'safuckingdragon." He falls backward on his ass and gapes openly at the slender reptile folding its wings before him. Ice-blue scales shimmer blindingly in the sunlight, and a whip-like tail lashes back and forth as a foreleg twice as long as Barry is tall paws at the ground.

"I didn't catch any of whatever the hell you just said," says the dragon, piercing blue-green eyes regarding him with laser-sharp intensity, "but you look like you never seen a dragon before in your life."

Barry stands up, telegraphing every movement with slow caution. "I— oh God, easy there—" the dragon lets out a low rumble at his words, a frill around its head puffing out for a moment like a Dilophosaurus— "uh, where am I, exactly?"

"Central City Dragon Reserve, kid. Jeez, you new here?" A dragon. Is talking to him. Out loud. Like, for real. What is his life.

"Um, no? Yes? Maybe? Oh God, did I change the timeline again?"

"What?" The dragon shakes its head. "For fuck's sake, it's way too hot for this." It squints up, and a blast of air sends Barry tumbling back onto his ass. "I bet your firey ass is happy with all this  _global warming_."

"You betcha," rumbles a much larger, much heavier dragon with dark dull brown scales and smoke pouring out of its nostrils like a chimney. Lighter shades of brown speckle its legs, tail, wings, and its slight underbite. It flies down, settling down comfortably right next to the first and blinking at Barry. "Hey, Lenny, who's this?"

"No idea. Think they're some weird dragon-human hybrid Cisco cooked up in the labs?"

"What?" yelps Barry, scrambling to his feet and pulling off his cowl. "I'm a _human_ , not a— wait, did you say Cisco?" He turns and stares at the first dragon. " _Lenny?_ "

"That's me, kid," is the drawled response.

"Oh no. Oh, no no _no_. You are  _not_ —"

"Leonard Snart and Michael Rory!" hisses someone behind him. He chokes back an inhuman shriek of surprise as a  _goat-legged, goat-horned Cisco Ramon_ glares past him toward the two dragons. "What the hell, dudes, why are you tourizing terrorists?" Goat Cisco pauses. "Don't say anything. Who's this? Did they get separated from their group? Humans, I swear—"

"Thought you'd know this guy," the bigger dragon, who is most likely  _Mick Rory_ , now that Barry thinks about it, grunts back.

Goat Cisco studies Barry intensely. "Nope, don't know you— wow, you are  _really skinny_ — and _what_ are you _wearing_?"

"Cisco, it's me!" says Barry.

"I think I'd remember if I knew a human who wore—" Goat Cisco leans forward, narrowing his eyes— "what is that made of? A skintight leather suit. What kinda weird kinks are you into?"

"I— it's made of  _reinforced tripolymer,_ thank you very much— is there not a Barry Allen in this universe?" That's a... decidedly strange thing to consider, him not existing in some other Earths.

Goat Cisco makes a face. "You're not Barry. Barry's a griffin. You're a human. Wait, what do you mean, 'in this universe'?" He gasps. " _Oh_ my _God_ , you're from another universe, aren't you? That is _so cool_ , what's it like there?"

Dragon Leonard Snart clears his throat, tapping a claw against the ground. "Can we go now? I'm melting in this heat."

"No, no you cannot, not if you're heading to your secret icy criminal lair," Goat Cisco says, pointing his finger at Dragon Leonard Snart pointedly. "Barry— our Barry, not you, stringbean— Barry wants to talk to you, and he's over by the docks, so get your scaly butts over there before you break our boyfriend's heart."

"Wait, what," says Barry.

Goat Cisco blinks back at him. "Are we not dating where you come from?"

"What? No! Well, yeah, I'm dating _you_ , but not them! They're my nemeses!"

"That's what our Barry said, and look at him now."

"Yes, but I'm not _your_ Barry—"

"No shit, you don't have any feathers."

"—and I _think_ I should get back to my Earth now, goodbye." He readies himself to run, then straightens up. "By the way, what are you? Is that a rude thing to ask? Um, what sort of creature are you—"

"Oh my God, you are  _so_ Barry. I'm a faun, dork. Do we, like, not exist in your universe?"

"You're kind of mythical creatures where I come from."

"Wait, really? That is _so weird_. Also—" Faun Cisco turns back to Dragons Leonard Snart and Mick Rory— "why are you still here? Shoo!" He makes shooing motions at them.

"Don't you love us," says Dragon Leonard Snart.

"You're breakin' our hearts," adds Dragon Mick Rory.

"Jeez, fine, I love you both, jerks, now  _go_." Faun Cisco shoos them off again more aggressively, and they roll their eyes before taking to the sky.

"...I'm gonna go now," says Barry, blinking.

"See you, wouldn't wanna be you," Faun Cisco says cheerfully. "No, seriously, I would  _not_ want to be someone who isn't dating Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, because those two might be assholes, but they're damn good at—"

Barry flees.

"—cuddling." Cisco blinks, glancing around, and flicks his glossy black tail. "Well, that's just rude."

 

***

 

"Barry?" Cisco says, talking through the wad of bubblegum in his mouth. "Dude, you okay?" Barry should be back by now; the therma-threading wouldn't take this long to work.

" _Um,_ " says Barry, voice crackling (Cisco'll have to check the comms when Barry comes back). " _Yep, I'm good. I'm fine. I'm perfectly all right._ " He does not sound perfectly all right.

"You sure? You kinda froze up when you— oh God no I swear that was unintentional." Cisco groans and lightly slaps his forehead with his palm as Barry laughs. He is so not sleeping on the bed with Cisco tonight. "Point being, you did not move when you could have moved, and then you got iced. Literally."

A flash of lightning and the subsequent displacement of many, many sheets of paper (Caitlin, please have mercy on them) heralds Barry's return. "Okay, so. I kind of ended up on a parallel universe earlier today?"

Cisco leans forward, blowing his bubblegum out and sucking it back into his mouth. "Do tell."

"And Captain Cold and Heat Wave were dragons?"

Cisco's second attempt at making a bubblegum bubble explodes in his face. When the rubble is mostly cleared away, he fixes Barry with a stare. "They were  _dragons_?"

"Yes! And I was apparently a griffin! And all four of us were—"

"What?" prods Cisco, still dislodging bubblegum from his cheeks. Barry seems extremely reluctant to _spit it out_ , so he says more insistently, " _What?_ "

"All four of us were dating?"

Cisco chokes on his bubblegum. After Barry kindly offers him a trash can and a water bottle, and after he spits out his bubblegum and glugs down the whole bottle in one go, he says, " _What._ "

"I mean, obviously it's way different here, and just because, you know, something is a thing in an alternate universe doesn't mean it _has_ to be a thing here, I mean, look at me and Iris, she's  _engaged to Linda_ and we're very very cool with the whole just-friends thing, because friendship is very important and in no way lesser than romance at all, and I'm not saying that we should even be friends with Captain Cold and Heat Wave, because I—"

"Barry," says Cisco, and Barry trails off. "Dude. It's fine. If you're c— okay with it, we can work our way up to that. Somehow."

"Well, we don't  _have_ to—"

"I understand that, but I also understand that Captain Cold is really really pretty and that Heat Wave could benchpress me with one arm." He reaches out and pats Barry's head. "We can deal with this tomorrow. But first, you said you were a griffin, right? And that they were dragons?" At Barry's answering nod, he continues, "So, like, did you see _me_? _What was I?_ "

"You were, like, a faun?"

Cisco spittakes all over Caitlin's papers.

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ come find me on my tumblr @robinatheart. i appreciate any comments and im sorry if i dont respond, but social anxiety is a Problem™ of mine :0 thank u for understanding


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